It is known to provide on a media player, such as a video tape recorder, a jog and/or shuttle knob. A shuttle knob allows the operator of the media player to adjust the speed of the player in either a forward or reverse direction. A jog control allows the user to move in forward and reverse directions through the medium on a still frame by frame basis. Examples of prior art jog and shuttle controls include levers, knobs, concentric knobs, and knobs that change function when pressed upon axially or when another switch is pressed.
A common system is a three-button system, in which the user places three of his or her fingers on three buttons. The outer two fingers control the forward and reverse shuttle operations, which are much like fast forward scan and rewind scan buttons on a video tape recorder, except that multiple presses on the outer buttons in shuttle mode result in proportional increases in shuttling speed. For example, three presses will cause shuttling to take place at triple the shuttling speed. The central button is a stop button, and when it is held down, the outer buttons act as forward and reverse jog controls.
In computer-based media composition systems, a visual representation of a shuttle or jog control may be displayed and manipulated with a mouse. For example, an image of a slider or a film strip may be presented to the user. The user may then click on the slider with the mouse and drag the slider to perform either shuttle or jog operations. For example, the Quantel Harry system, available from Quantel Systems, Inc. of England, uses this type of metaphor. Generally, however, these systems require the user to be watching the screen so that they may locate the mouse pointer in a proper position on the slider.